'There is no sincerer love than the love of food.'

So Detta is a reader, a cat lover, a foodie, and Italian… what a combination. She very generously hosted us at her place for the most memorable birthday in my 35 (!) years.

But you don’t want to READ about it… you want to see… right?

She looks so sweet! But take a closer look… yes, those are SKULLS and crossbones on her apron LOL. Ricotta gnocchi at formation stage…

Janet poses proudly with her boursin cheese… stage one of her appy assemblage…

Here’s the finished product: boursin with sweet pepper topping, along with roasted garlic for spreading on crisps and crackers.

Meanwhile, the gnocchi poaches, and will be served with homemade pesto…

A pre-dinner party game gone awry… don’t ask…

A distinguished Nerida presents the gnocchi!

… while Janet vogues with the orange and red onion salad!

Our talented host shows off her main of ricotta gnocchi, grilled asparagus, baked tomatoes, and orange salad. Only water in that wine glass???

And Detta’s craaaazy cake creation: salted chocolate caramel ice cream cake! When I sent out pics to friends, some of them responded with ‘how was it?’ … are you KIDDING me? To re-state, this is salted chocolate caramel ice cream cake, folks!

Well, where to start? This week, a dear friend sent me a link to a Groupon for chocolate classes in Vancouver. I thought to myself: I can get that in my own kitchen… replete with good pals, booze, and laughs galore.

You see, over the course of two nights in November (I had to add a second night, there was such interest), I was lucky enough to host chocolate diva Monica Mueller in my home, for a glimpse into her sweet world.

After some shots of Advocaat (which Monica described as ‘fermented egg yolks’ in a bid to keep more for herself) along with dark chocolate as a chaser, then biscotti flavoured Baileys liqueur in chocolate shooter cups, then port wine, Monica showed us how to properly temper chocolate.

Tempering chocolate… kinda like grouting tile?

Then we were shown how to apply chocolate to a cocoa butter transfer sheet, for a striking and simple design effect.

When the transfer sheet was peeled away after drying, we had a salt and pepper chocolate bark with a cool orange and red striped design. Here, Kayla applies the tempered chocolate to the sheet.

And! We learned the secret of how they get the caramel in the Caramilk bar 😉

For some time, I’ve been in the habit of taking different clusters of my peeps out to Maple Ridge for Saturday chick adventures. The star attraction is my favourite boutique thrift store, the high-end offshoot of Cythera Transition House Society, called Cythera Unique Boutique. This store ‘high-grades’ the donations made to its more traditional store, and retails them in a very aesthetically pleasing and professional atmosphere. Each turn around the shop reveals more items that you didn’t even know you ‘needed’ until you spotted them.

Star with a shiny find at Cythera Unique Boutique!

The details of the thrift itinerary have evolved as we have all discovered new Maple Ridge attractions together. Generally, we meet at the original Cythera store to drop off our donations, then hop over to the boutique for a good spend, then over to Roots Natural Foods for a grocery shop. A few weeks ago, the Maple Ridge farmers’ market was added to the roster. As was a decent sushi joint.

But the heart of the day is now the bakery across from our donation stop, and just a few doors down from Roots. Formerly Crumbs Bakery, Delizie Italiane Bakery & Bistro was born in 2008, when ‘Amalfi coasters’ Daniele and Rosangela Atte took over the spot, which features deli items, baked goods, and warm foods, along with cafe-style beverages. The space offers a decent amount of seating, and has buzzed with energy on the last two Saturdays when I went to worship at the altar of sfogliatella.

How GORGEOUS are these bakery owners? Do they eat carbs?

What is sfogliatella you ask! I soooo want to tell you. On the first Saturday, I ordered this pastry, based solely on its interesting shape: kind of a multi-layered shell. Had no idea how to eat the thing. Biting into it didn’t seem like the way to go. I decided that the most pleasing way to fall upon the crispy unit was to tear off the pointy bit (which I have dubbed ‘the nose’), and then to keep tearing the pastry layers toward the wider end. Inside the shell is a subtly orange-scented ricotta filling. Heaven.

Sfogliatella… I will name my next kitten Sfogliatella.

A week later, I was STOKED, and ready for my dose of sfogliatella. No dice. Sigh. But then! Owner Daniele offered to bake some up while we waited! While one buddy enjoyed an incredible looking Italian spin on eggs benny (toasted ciabatta layered with Italian sausage, poached eggs, and tomato basil sauce, served alongside hash browns), I busied my cakehole with a fresh Italian doughnut and a chocolate-dipped shell cookie.

Here is Maggie’s hot Italian breakie. And Maggie!

Well! There is no describing the sensory experience of a warm sfogliatella, but I will try: buttery, multi-dimensional, exquisite… bordering on sexual. I am now ruined for the room temperature version. Sigh.

Here is Daniele, proudly showing off the warm sfogliatella!

Do the thrift store run. Start at Delizie. When you’ve finished shopping, return there to grab some take-home treats. Repeat weekly.

These special pastries are only available on weekends, but there are tons of other amazing choices all week long!

For more details on the miracle that is sfogliatella, click here and watch the video of the hardcore Italian nonna actually cranking out the things. Not for amateurs!

As if the opportunity to see over 100 writers were not enough, they slipped food into the mix.

So not only were participants able to deke over to the Public Market for mini perogies, Indian grub, and the best caramel macchiatos I have enjoyed in a while… food was featured at some of the actual sessions, included in the ticket price.

The first surprise came at 11am today, at the sold-out event called The Sunday Brunch. Among the writers reading from their works were Graeme Gibson, Linden Macintyre, and Susan Musgrave. The blurb mentioned only croissants and champage. We were instead presented with the delight below. Along with the croissants and sweet bread at the bottom tier, we were treated to pate, smoked salmon spread, mimosas, clotted cream and jam, fruit, and chocolates.

A few hours later, we were hit with the second feed, called The Afternoon Tea. This session featured six more authors, among them Lorna Crozier and Bill Gaston. The blurb suggested that we would only be drinking tea as we listened. Instead, we were presented with this:

The Abbotsford Farm and Country Market now essentially runs year-round, every Saturday from 9am to 1pm, at the regular downtown location at Montrose and George Ferguson Way.

They used to hold occasional markets outside of the main (April to October) season, but now we don’t have to wake up Saturday mornings wondering if ‘today’s the day’!

Market manager Bruce Fatkin explains that the market will take place predominantly outside, on Montrose Avenue, with a few vendors inside the United Church along with the regular church concession (fundraiser).

They do plan to take some time off in ‘the heart of winter’, with the last market of the calendar year happening on Dec 22nd, reconvening on January 26th.

I am looking forward to an uninterrupted supply of fresh rye bread, frosted walnut scones, and local honey. Oh yeah!

It’s easy to mock the idea of going to school for three years to learn about tea. That is, until you’re in the classroom with 14 fellow tea nerds (plus our instructor Brendan, whom I refer to as – using my inside voice – The Tea Sensei).

The girl to guy ratio is 2:1. There are three hobbyists; some who want to start tea shops and/or tea rooms; while some have formal culinary training. One woman’s mother inventedbubble tea, and her family operates a large Taiwanese tea empire.

We learned that the real demand tea-wise in Canada is not so much for retail (225 David’s Tea locations will open this year in California alone!), but rather for importing and blending tea: the behind-the-scenes stuff. Hmmm… interesting!

After my first three-hour session at what I fondly think of as Tea School, buddy Detta declared me a tea snob.

For example… once you learn why tea bags are a joke, it’s pretty difficult to continue using them. Spoiler alert – you can’t unknow what you already know, so skip this paragraph if you want to keep using your (pedestrian!) teabags. Teabags are inferior because: 1. There is not enough tea in the teabag to make a proper cup; 2. There is not enough room for the tea to properly expand, meaning a weak, non-representative cup; 3. The tea in a teabag consists of the fine dust and fannings, in stark contrast to the broader flavour profiles to be found in the larger-leaf loose teas. Tea dust is used by soda companies (and Red Bull!) to boost caffeine levels.

And did you know that ALL teas (we don’t count herbals here, because that’s just herbs in a cup!), come from the SAME plant? The categories of tea (white, yellow, green, oolong, black, and Pu-ehr) are linked to the intensity of the oxidation / processing that they undergo, and also what parts of the plant are picked (or plucked). It’s also about the terroir of the place: altitude, soil, climate…

And when we taste (or ‘cup’) teas in class, the goal is to slurp it off of the spoon at 125 miles an hour, so that the air and tea spray all three sections of the tongue. And The Sensei knows when you’re only doing 40 in a 125 zone. And the spitting – I can’t get used to spitting the tea out – it’s supposed to taste completely different ‘on the way out’.

When we cup teas, we assess the dry leaf, wet leaf, and the tea (or liquor) itself. It’s pretty scientific, with the loose dry tea weighed to the tenth of a gram, and the water temperature and volume also closely monitored. More like a science lab than an outing at The Empress!

On the first night, The Tea Sensei showed us a white, yellow, green, and oolong tea.

Anyway, I could go on.

That was just the intro course. Next up are courses on sensory development, history, production, food pairings, geography…

But first, I need to pass this intro. It’s telling that the passing mark has been lowered from 75% to 60%.

Part of the final mark is based on a class presentation, with students in groups of twos and threes. The most transporting presentations of the night were delivered by two of the five groups. One group demonstrated two methods of preparing tea: the Gongfu tea ceremony and the method for yerba mate (with a gourd and a bombilla! Who knew?). The second stunner group offered a food pairing, matched against three Asian teas under the guise of a tea company making a bridal shower pitch. Absolutely humbling. Truly.

We sweated the most over the blind tasting after the presentations, when we were asked to identify five teas, without the benefit of seeing the wet / dry leaves.

After that, it was on to a 50-question multiple choice exam. Some questions were ‘gifts’ while others were absolutely perplexing.

Fingers crossed. Now we wait for our marks…

Oh! I made a serendipitous discovery while scouting out a place to get a few hours of tea studying in before The Big Night. In Gastown, just off of Blood Alley in Gaoler’s Mews is a fantastic retail tea shop and tea room called Apres Midi Premium Teahouse. They are in the process of rebranding to Gastown Tea Company. Turns out the owners took the same tea program, and The Tea Sensei was contracted as a consultant to build their tea menu. The space is late 1800’s, and gorgeous. I plan to devote an entire post to this place (with pictures), so stay tuned.

Apres Midi is the shop on the right.

And my dirty little secret: I still take half-and-half cream in my tea. Shhhh… don’t tell The Tea Sensei.

*** a note about the word ‘sommelier’ itself. I have been blown away by how many folks don’t know this word. Kinda makes the whole ‘tea sommelier’ thing a bit of a drag to explain when you have to back up and describe what a (wine) sommelier is. People! Come on!